Hannah the hiker

In my efforts to make the most of Winter, I set a goal to try out cross country skiing this year. I found out last week that Watertown Parks and Rec Department offers ski and snowshoe rentals on the weekends, and decided to check it out.

The rentals are available at the Thompson Park bathhouse on the weekends 9:30 am-3:00 pm. For city residents it’s $7 for boots, skiis, and poles. The attendent there told us only about 3 people had rented skiis this season. I thought there weren’t going to be any skiis left to rent this weekend because I thought it was going to be so busy!

I asked my mom to join me since she use to cross country ski. We picked up the skis around 10 am on February 22nd and set out for our adventure. The first part was to just figure out how to wear the skis, which wasn’t easy. It was a team effort, but we made it through with only one fall and some side splitting laughter.

The parks department grooms the trails around the golf course, people can go around all 18 holes. We head out on the loop to the left that started by the Thompson Park vortex. The first part of the trail seemed recently groomed, and there were lots of bootprints and snowshoe prints. There were a couple of ski tracks we could follow too.

We started off pretty slow but as time went on we got the hang of things. It was thrilling! It was so neat to just glide along the snow. I’ve done quite a bit of walking in the snow, snowshoeing and snowboarding, but nothing felt like this!

The trail meandered around the course and hugged the trees for the most part. There were a couple of offshoots from the trail, but for the most part it was well marked with red poles on the sides. The trails had a nice variety of flat ground and some sloping hills. We got to test our speed on some of the “downhills” and our skills on the “uphills.”

The trail had great views of the surrounding roads and houses on the outskirts of Watertown. It was a bit overcast but we still got to enjoy the views and the surrounding nature.

We skied about 1.5 miles, we were out there for an hour and a half. I believe if you do the whole loop its a couple miles more at least.

For anyone looking to add a bit more of micro-adventuring in their lives this would be a great place to start! There are a couple of other trails in the park that people could use the skis on. And if you don’t rent skis or snowshoes you can still take full advantage of the trails.

I’d say cross country skis are really beginner friendly as well.

A picture of the trails in the park are below for anyone interested in checking them out.

Also, word of advice to “be bold, and start cold.” It’s a good idea to dress comfortably but recognize that you will warm up as you get going.

Now I am scouring the internet to find a good deal on used cross country skis to use for the rest of the season!

What we brought and wore:

• wool baselayer
• wool sweater
• light wind breaker
• light vest
• wool gaiter
• beanie
• midweight gloves and Caiman Jack Gloves
• wool socks (definitely a wool theme with this outfit)
• Nylon outershell pants

Here is a link to the Facebook post from the city’s parks and rec department: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18Kdd8dHD1/.